is now, “Google Workspace.” The change appears to be an effort by Google to improve it’s suite of “office apps,” by integrating their video conferencing system, aka Google Meet, across more applications. To quote Google’s VP of Google Workspace, Javier Soltero, “This is the end of the ‘office’ as we know it.”
Many clients and associates still seem to be a bit puzzled about what G-Suite is. I always ask them if they use Gmail, and often they do. Well, that’s really one of the core applications of G-Suite. A Gmail account gives users access to G-Suite, even if they aren’t aware the 9 dots in the upper right corner will open G-Suite.
The bottom line is really about the battle for market share in the ever-growing cloud-based office applicaion space. With more people working from home, this kind of competition should only serve to help users get more bang for their buck. For the record, most of G-Suite is free for single-users which was the first salvo fired by Google at Microsoft when MS Office was running a cool undred bucks at Fry’s on CD.
For a visual overview of the major changes from G-Suite to Workspace, here’s a video by a third-party that goes by 9to5Google on Youtube.
Photos from Palm Springs and Indian Wells, Summer 2020
Summer began and closely thereafter the LNU Lightening Complex (fire) ignited around Napa, California. The smoke permeated nearby Sacramento causing AQI’s to reach upwards of 500+. It would burn from August to October 2, 2020 and become the fourth largest wildfire in the recorded history of California.
Choked by the smoke, we packed the dogs and hit the road for bluer skies; destination, Palm Springs. Technically, Indian Wells, but we spent a lot of time throughout the beautiful Coachella Valley; seven weeks to be exact.
I was able to continue servicing my clients and even picked up some new projects while I was there. Virtually all of my clients use Zoom, Google Meet and GoTo Meeeting for communications which made being hundreds of miles away, a non-issue.
This gallery represents some of my favorite photos from this trip. I forgot to pack my Nikon so I made do with my trusty iPhone. Still, I think they came out just fine for displaying on the web.
One of the new projects I began in Indian Wells was a virtual tour for a real estate agent. More on that later. It definitely got me thinking about expanding my services to include virtual tours.
Oh yeah, while we were visiting, this fun hulu flick came out, called, “Palm Springs.” Kind of “chick-flicky,” all funny, with a pinch of zombiesqueness for good measure.
Photography
Homes, Cars, and Things of Palm Springs and Indian Wells
Zillow’s 3D Home Tours is new app (Sept 2019), for iOS and Android that just about anybody can use as long as you have a steady hand and an eye for detail. The virtual tour I posted below took about 20 minutes to shoot and render, then about 20 more minutes to process and load on my website. I think it’s better than much of the stuff we see on countless real estate websites. Just a few years ago, only serious professionals with high-grade equipment were doing this. Now – it’s in the palm of your hand, literally.
The real estate industry has seen a major surge in the development of “virtual tour,” applications in the last year alone. And then there’s the drone stuff. Drones can really increase the presentation of high-end properties to showcase vast amounts of nature like beaches or mountains.
Another cool feature, invented by Google, is creating a “walk-thru,” presentation as many of us use with Google Maps. I’ll be testing this asap, too. Here’s a video of this feature used by a company in Sunnyvale, CA called Matterport: https://www.facebook.com/Matterport/videos/1680999475274141/
I’ll be testing other applications, cameras, and equipment to find a setup that provides the best result at a good price-point.
I’m CT, the founder and owner of Sierra Blue, a full-service digital creative agency based in Sacramento with deep roots in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1997 and Tahoe since I can’t remember.
I call my agency Sierra Blue because I love the Sierra Nevada and the name feels authentic to me as opposed to some gimmicky, flashy, tech-trendy name.
I spent endless summers fishing, playing with blue belly lizards, hiking the back-country with my trusty .22 riffle, shooting wrist rockets, reading MAD Magazines behind my grandma’s back because it was contraband at the cabin, and often confiscated.
I’ve worked with very large tech companies like Google and HP, and I’ve worked for very small agencies.
With 20 years of experience in web design, graphics, and marketing – I deliver professional results that much larger agencies would take longer to complete, and charge more for.
If you have questions about how I can help you accelerate your flow, feel free to get in touch.
When it comes to website search engine optimization, I’ve been going by “The book,” for many years. Honestly, I’ve owned and managed websites that ranked #1 on Google for terms such as:
Sacramento Concerts
Sacramento Nightlife
Sacramento Dining
Sacramento Shopping
Sacramento Weddings
See the pattern? It’s a lot easier to be real and stay local. My websites had tons of content, photos, and even video. I used H1 tags, meta tags, descriptions and my favorite, the famous, but still underused <img> alt Attribute
Since Google pretty much reinvented online search, the “webmaster’s bible,” as I call it, is the source you should use if you’re a DIY kinda person. This section is the one every serious webmaster should know. When I discuss SEO with clients, I keep the outline and essential details of this “book,” front-and-center.
Who is this guide for? If you own, manage, monetize, or promote online content via Google Search, this guide is meant for you. You might be the owner of a growing and thriving business, the webmaster of a dozen sites, the SEO specialist in a Web agency or a DIY SEO ninja passionate about the mechanics of Search : this guide is meant for you. If you’re interested in having a complete overview of the basics of SEO according to our best practices, you are indeed in the right place. This guide won’t provide any secrets that’ll automatically rank your site first in Google (sorry!), but following the best practices outlined below will hopefully make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and understand your content.
My motivation for writing this post came from a full weekend of working on a fairly sizable website that was super-heavy with images. Local photographer Rudy Meyers has been in the business for more than 25 years and is considered by many, THE photographer if you want to put your best foot forward. He wanted to increase his organic search ranking so when we connected for this project, I was more than happy to get involved and help him achieve his goals.
Key Takeaways from the updated Google Bible
Tell Google which pages shouldn’t be crawled
Best Practices
For non-sensitive information, block unwanted crawling by using robots.txt
A “robots.txt” file tells search engines whether they can access and therefore crawl parts of your site. This file, which must be named “robots.txt”, is placed in the root directory of your site. It is possible that pages blocked by robots.txt can still be crawled, so for sensitive pages you should use a more secure method.
Create good titles and snippets in search results
If your document appears in a search results page, the contents of the title tag may appear in the first line of the results (if you’re unfamiliar with the different parts of a Google search result, you might want to check out the anatomy of a search result video).
The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/business and could include other bits of important information like the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main focuses or offerings.
Use heading tags to emphasize important text
Since heading tags typically make text contained in them larger than normal text on the page, this is a visual cue to users that this text is important and could help them understand something about the type of content underneath the heading text. Multiple heading sizes used in order create a hierarchical structure for your content, making it easier for users to navigate through your document.
Use Google’s new Search Console
Search Console tools and reports help you measure your site’s Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and make your site shine in Google Search results.